Mr. Frank Webster

The real answer to reducing the cost of health care for teachers and school employees is for school boards to utilize the advantages of competition.

Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Michigan (BCBSM) is a quasi-public, nonprofit health insurance firm that controls over 50 percent of the health insurance market in Michigan. It has been insulated from the rigors of a truly competitive market, thanks to Michigan's Public Act 350 of 1980, a law that exempts it from state taxes. It should lose this protection and be converted to an investor-owned, private company.

School districts being manipulated by union-controlled health insurance providers should look instead to less expensive alternatives to providing their teachers with high quality health care benefits.